On the Land Crabs of' Jamaica. 281 



sixty to seventy crabs, and two of these eaten with plantains 

 or yams, make an excellent meal. I have seen upwards of a 

 hundred Negroes pass my house in an evening, and return with 

 their baskets on their heads, not only full of crabs, but with 

 quantities of them fastened by the claws on the tops of the bas- 

 kets. I make but a moderate computation, when I suppose they 

 must have had, at the very least, three thousand crabs. Almost 

 every Negro family has an old flour barrel pierced with holes, 

 in which their crabs are kept. They are fed with plantain 

 skins. Sic. and taken out and thrown into the pot as wanted. 



There is a great variety of crabs in Jamaica, of which two 

 only are eaten. The black is the finest, and has ever been es- 

 teemed one of the greatest delicacies in the West Indies, not 

 excepting even the turtle. These live in the mountain forests, 

 on stony ground, and feed on the fallen dry leaves of the trees. 

 The white crab, as it is called (although rather purple than 

 white) used principally by the Negroes, but by the white people 

 also, is larger, and more resembles in taste the lobster of this 

 country. These are amphibious, and are found in the low- 

 lands, principally in the woods, where, as I have already said, 

 they are caught at night with torches. But they are numerous 

 also in the cultivated fields, and in some of the low lying estates 

 frequently do considerable damage to the planters in dry 

 weather, when vegetation is slow, by nipping off" the blade of the 

 young canes and corn, as it shoots through the ground. In 

 situations of this kind, the Negroes have a somewhat singular 

 method of catching them : they know from the appearance of a 

 crab hole if there be a crab in it, and dig down with a hoe 

 through the soft loam, till they come to water (about eighteen 

 inches or two feet) ; and then close the hole firmly with a hand- 

 ful of dry grass. In this manner a Negro will shut up two or 

 three dozen of holes in a morning. About four hours after, 

 he returns, and his prisoners being by this time drunkencd 

 (half drowned), they tumble out along with the plug of grass, 

 and are caught. 



In the year 1811, there was a very extraordinary production 

 of black crabs in the eastern parts of Jamaica. In the month 

 of June or July of that year, I forget which, the whole district 

 of Manchioneal (where the great chain of the Blue Mountains, 



